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On Young, Privileged, and Applying for Food Stamps
@chic noir chic noir I sure didn't, because I paid plenty of taxes on the income I made to earn that unemployment in the first place, and I'm a second generation native NYer. You know of any jobs scrubbing rich people's toilets in the Financial District or Midtown or feeding someone's cat that require a 1099? Because I'd have happily filled one out--I'm a 1099 right now and a small business owner--I put other people to work too--and was still working to feed myself after leaving home at 17 & getting my own place at 18. I wasn't applying for food stamps despite having other options & enough education to know that there were other options. I dunno that I'm throwing stones because I'm not living in any glass house, but I'm sure throwing shade. I didn't show up here acting all brand new like Man, wow this is hard I need help because I didn't arrive here with a plan. I've BEEN here, and I make it just fine thanks to a healthy dose of reality at a young age. Thanks, Mom & Dad!
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On Young, Privileged, and Applying for Food Stamps
@The Dauphine I read it. And she tried there for three years and has been here for one, and it makes me no less interested in her plight. She went from trying to get non profit work (as a Sociology major, that makes sense) to wanting a job in media in a tight, competitive, oversaturated market where people with more drive, connections, an actual experience are struggling to get media relates jobs. I don't disagree at all that food stamps and other forms of assistance can be a very helpful tool to bridge the gap for young kids who don't come from privilege, but the notion that it's ever going to help level the playing field is overly optimistic. Food stamps aren't going to give her any help to get there other than feed her (which is all they need to do, and I don't argue that she has no right to want to eat!) My point is instead of half drowning yourself just to be here like by VIRTUE of being here something magical is gonna happen, pack up & go somewhere else where your unprepared little ass isn't starving (and she's not THAT young, she's been out of college 4 years now) and get a plan going already! She's here doing "freelance" and working two service jobs...what time/energy does she have to put into actually being prepared or desirable for a job in media anything? Go live in Houston/Chicago/Indy/Austin/Philly/wherever and save some money and MAKE your own damn way. "Media" is a pretty vague term, and it seems to be the default setting for these new transplants--everybody comes here to be fabulous and have this cool job they're worked out in their minds, AND THEY DON'T HAVE ANY FRICKIN EXPERIENCE OR TRAINING TO GO WITH IT. Doing stuff like writing this piece is good exposure & training for her, but guess what? You can live anywhere and write. Why can't you write about being young & struggling in St. Louis, where you actually might not have to struggle as hard? Bc it's not "cool" enough or it doesn't have enough cred if it's not here? Build a body of work & save some money & return when you're ready instead of jumping on the pathetic 20something bandwagon of "I'm white and middle class, college educated, & poor bc I wanna be in NY and this is my epic tale of having to live on a tight budget and bust my ass". WELCOME TO THE REALITY OF NYC. It's overromanticized bullshit, there's thousands of other wide eyed transplants here. It's not such an epic tale, nor is it so shocking to be confronted with privilege (real or perceived) in this City when we've seen it all a hundred times before. The notion of coming here and "making it" and having the City as a springboard to the "American Dream" died a long time ago. Kids gotta wake up and get real and start forging a new path, because it's not gonna get any cheaper or easier to live here.
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On Young, Privileged, and Applying for Food Stamps
@RD You can work towards a dream career and make enough to feed yourself in this City. Is it so untoward to imagine that someone ought to be able to take care of themselves while pursuing a dream if they want to strike out in one of the most expensive cities in the country in a field in which they are untested and for a career for which they are obviously unprepared? She could be anywhere: Austin, Houston, Minneapolis, Miami, Philly getting experience and saving some money.
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On Young, Privileged, and Applying for Food Stamps
@harperpitt "The real piece of unexamined privilege here is the assumption that anyone "deserves" to live in New York City. Can't make money? Go somewhere else." I <3 this. All day.
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On Young, Privileged, and Applying for Food Stamps
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! The writer moved to NY bc she wants a fabulous and cool job she's not necessarily qualified for in an oversaturated market and in the most expensive place in the damn country to live and she wants people to "understand" her and feel bad for her relative poverty...why? I have a HS diploma and a year or two of college (not even an Associate's), have never been unemployed in this City (unless I didn't feel like working bc I was working on other stuff, then I lived on unemployment and savings and taking odd jobs off the books), and make my living as a creative doing a job I am trained and qualified for. I have never considered applying for food stamps because I recognize my privilege of being able to WORK and because I know "Sex & the City" and "Devil Wears Prada" are FICTION. Aww, can't afford your apt in Brooklyn? Too bad, so sad. If you're truly poor, I hear the Bronx is cheaper--or are there too many brown & truly poor people there for her liking? A degree in Sociology and she wants to work in...media. Can that get a little more vague and annoyingly starfucked? Everyone wants to be in media these days, it's viewed as being glamorous, but what does "working in media" even mean? How was she supporting herself and who was supporting her while she took all these unpaid internships that amounted to nothing? I haven't had the time to take unpaid work since I was in HS. I was too busy being an adult and paying my bills and rent on my NYC apt...since I was 18. You know what? My husband works at one of the top interactive agencies in NYC and they have had 6 tech and creative but still tech oriented positions open for MONTHS that NO ONE is qualified for. You know what they have an incredible overabundance of? Privileged, entitled crybabies like the author, her friends, and their apparent fans who want to come to NY and work at a "cool" place doing something "fun" and "interesting" in media and live in "hip" Brooklyn. If you want to work in "media", then maybe you should be qualified to do the job you want to do (if you even know what it is you really want to actually do day to day beyond enjoying the trappings of having a cool sounding job) and go live someplace less expensive while you gather up some applicable knowledge and experience and oh, I dunno, LEARN SOME FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY AND SAVE SOME??? She and everybody else who whine that NY is hard--NO SHIT. Welcome to reality. Nobody cares. I'm first generation born in the states, raised poor in the projects here in NYC by parents whose first language is not English, each with HS diplomas who pursued their college dreams after the age of 40... and I make it just fine without help, thanks. If you can't make it waitressing in this City, you need to up the ante on your skills and get in at a better restaurant, sweetie.
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On Young, Privileged, and Applying for Food Stamps
@Jeff Crystoff@twitter Amen. Brooklyn ain't cheap.